My friends, Christ is risen! And the risen Christ calls us, no, COMMANDS us, to respond to resurrection by sharing the gospel of Jesus. It may seem scary, but you can do it. I KNOW you can do it. And, Jesus commands you to do it. So…let’s get started.
Friends in Christ, the Lord is Risen! (The Lord is Risen, indeed!) Everything humanity knew, or thought it knew prior to the empty tomb, has changed…and, as a result, everything about how we live should change. Please, please, please, don’t let the event of Jesus’ resurrection become just another in the long line of happenings to which we respond with actions and words suggesting there’s nothing to see here. Please, please, please, respond to Jesus’ resurrection with every minute of every day, with every fiber of your being, respond in a way that reveals that from here on out EVERYTHING has changed.
My friends, Jesus entered Jerusalem in a most unusual way to begin the last week of His earthly ministry. And He did so to show the people of His day that real triumph, success, victory, in the eyes of God and for the best way of living, looks very different than what was thought by the people of His time. Come to think of it, Jesus entered Jerusalem in a most unusual way to show people of OUR time that victory looks a lot different than most of us think.
While it’s true that Jesus’ righteousness makes us righteous, so that we don’t need to rely on our own righteousness when The Judgment comes, and while it’s true faith is what saves, not works, it is ALSO true that the way to live best while on this earth, the way to live INTO the Kingdom of Heaven right here and right now, is by DOING acts of love for others, by taking care of the needs of others that you can do something about.
March 31, 2019 Sermon Journey to the Cross: Readiness First Scripture Reading: Psalm 43:3-4 3 O send out your light and your truth; let them lead me; let them bring me to your holy hill and to your dwelling. 4 Then I will go to the altar of God, to God my exceeding joy; […]